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A LITTLE BLUE BOX replaced a bulky GPS base station on the Weathers farm in South Carolina. Landrum Weathers checks out the GPS unit.

For Bowman, S.C., farmer Landrum Weathers, coming home from college to farm was a given — and bringing with him a new outlook on precision agriculture was a welcomed benefit to his farm family.

Weathers farms with his father, Landy Weathers, and his uncle, Hugh Weathers. For the past few years Landy has been primarily responsible for the day-to-day production operation of the family’s row crop, dairy and milk hauling businesses.

Hugh has been responsible for the business end of the family farming operation and doubles as Commissioner of Agriculture in South Carolina.

When Landrum headed off to college, Clemson was the obvious choice, but he was torn whether to follow his father, an agronomy major at Clemson, or his Uncle Hugh, a business major at the University of South Carolina.

Ultimately he majored in Agricultural Mechanization and Business.

Like most kids growing up in the cyber era, Landrum grew up learning on a computer; he learned to drive a tractor and use a computer hard drive at virtually the same time.

Coming back to the farm, he found his family quick to put his knowledge of computers and their role in precision farming to use.

For over 80 years, the Weathers family had been involved in dairying. Their dairy was one of the largest in South Carolina, and spawned a large milk hauling business.

But, running a dairy definitely wasn’t in young Landrum’s plans when he returned to the farm.

The dairy is now in the third year of an agreement with an operating partner. The Weathers family continues to grow corn and they have contracted to provide feed for the dairy herd. They also will continue with the bulk milk delivery business for their own dairy partner and for 30 other dairy farmers across the state.